Haitian judge says Duvalier must appear at human rights hearing

February 07, 2013|Reuters

By Susana Ferreira

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - An appeals court judgeordered former Haitian President Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalierto appear in court later this month on human rights allegationsfollowing a raucous hearing on the issue on Thursday.

Duvalier, 61, the country's former "president for life,"returned to Haiti in January 2011 after 25 years of exile andwas briefly detained on charges of corruption, theft andmisappropriation of funds.

A separate set of charges of crimes against humanity filedby people who charged they were victims of wrongful imprisonmentand torture and who said their family members "disappeared"under Duvalier, were set aside by an investigating judge lastyear who ruled the statute of limitations had run out.

Duvalier appealed the corruption charges, and the civilcomplainants appealed the judge's dismissal of human rightsabuse charges.

The former dictator defied a court order to appear in courton Thursday, instead providing his defense with a lengthy letterexplaining his absence, noting that the date of the hearingcoincided with the anniversary of his overthrow in 1987, a date,he wrote, in which "the greatest political crimes were committedin this country."

Duvalier's flight into exile marked the end of nearly threedecades of dictatorship begun by his father, FranÃ§ois 'Papa Doc'Duvalier.

When the date for his appearance was set at the previoushearing, Duvalier's chief counsel, Reynold Georges, declaredthat Feb. 7 was a "beautiful date" and would not present aproblem.

Even without Duvalier's presence, Thursday's court scene waslively. Members of Duvalier's legal team frequently spoke out ofturn, citing the illegitimacy of the appeal by the "so-calledcivil complainants," and attempted to have one alleged victim oftorture and imprisonment by Duvalier's security forces removedfrom the courtroom.

During hours of heated exchanges, the appeals courtprosecutor, Florence Mathieu, and Duvalier's legal team bothargued that any appeal to hear crimes against humanity chargesshould be dismissed due to improper procedure. The proceedingsended when Judge Jean Joseph Lebrun scheduled a new hearing forFeb. 21.

Duvalier was ordered to appear before the court forquestioning on both corruption charges and alleged human rightsabuses.

"We're comfortable with the decision of the appeals court,"said Mario Joseph, one of the lawyers representing Duvalier'svictims. Several of his clients were in the courtroom to observethe hearing.

"There was pressure from the exterior to influence theposition of the judges," said Frizto Canton, one of the lawyersrepresenting Duvalier. Both he and Georges alleged that thedecision to acknowledge the civil complainants was a politicalone. "We are adamant that the rule of law should havepre-eminence," Canton said.